JESTHER ENTERTAINMENT

Tuesday, March 31, 2015

Flesh class-icalBy Ed RampellThe Overture to Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart’s 1786
masterpiece, The
Marriage of Figaro (Le
Nozze di Figaro), is among the most popular in opera, while the glorious music
overall is among the best in the entire operatic and classical canon. Wearing
an open black shirt and his white hair flying, maestro James Conlon went all
Lenny Bernstein exuberantly
conducting The Marriage of Figaro with flair,
from first to final note.It’s
interesting to see The Marriage of Figaro this season with its cornucopia of
Figaro-themed productions based on Pierre Augustin Beaumarchais’ original 18th
century plays, onstage
at not only the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion, but at A Noise Within’s theater. I
had just seen the latter’s rather freewheeling version of Figaro, which is basically the same story as The Marriage of Figaro sans Mozart’s sublime score, so this
made it easier for me to follow the action.As the
lascivious, devious Count Almaviva’s (bass-baritone Ryan McKinny) servants,
Figaro (bass-baritone Roberto Tagliavini) and Susanna (soprano Pretty Yende), prepare for their nuptials the newlyweds-to-be must
contend with aristocracy’s despicable droit du seigneur. This ancient
feudal law allowed the lord to deflower proletarian
brides before they consummated their weddings with their commoner husbands. So
the ever resourceful Figaro and Susanna must scheme to thwart their “master’s”
marital rape of the bewitching bride-to-be.At the
same time, the aristocrat’s scorned, forlorn wife, Countess Almaviva (soprano
Guanqun Yu), seeks to reign in her adulterous husband’s serial philandering and
to be reunited with him. (As depicted in Rossini’s 1816 The
Barber of Seville, which LA Op presented earlier this season, the fickle Count Almaviva had ardently pursued
Rosina to make her his Countess,
but years later, when Marriage takes
place, he has become bored by his now-downcast wife.)As the plot thickens the randy cross-dressing male Cherubino (mezzo-soprano Renee Rapier),
his adolescent hormones raging out of control, lusts for Rosina, Susanna and
Barbarina (portrayed at the premiere by soprano So
Young Park and on April 9 & 12 by soprano Vanessa Becerra). Cherubino, who
dresses up in women’s clothing, becomes a soldier who’d prefer by
far to make love, not war. Further complicating matters, Marcellina
(mezzo-soprano Lucy Schaufer) has her own designs on Figaro, and it is one of
the opera’s biggest surprises when we find out why she really loves
Figaro. Bass Kristinn Sigmundsson,
who recently played Don Basilio (depicted here by tenor Robert Brubaker) in The Barber of Seville,portrays The Marriage of Figaro's Doctor Bartolo with the samecomic
panache he displayed in The Barber of Seville.In other words, this opera is mostly about sex.
Although the Count and lowly servant have a war of wits, pitting the patrician
against the plebian,
Mozart mostly plays this class struggle for laughs. There
are also lots of war-between-the-sexes jokes and jibes. However, as the issue of diversity and show biz has
been much in the news of late, it’s worth noting that what’s called
“non-traditional casting” actually enhances this production. The aptly named
Pretty Yende is black, which adds another layer (no pun intended) to the
cum-plexity of the plot, wherein the aristo seeks to assert his reprehensible droit du seigneur. The casting of an
African woman as Susanna is redolent and reminiscent of those loathsome slave
masters who coerced their female “chattel” to have sex with them at Southern
plantations. While the casting of Yu as the Countess may be a reference to
how some Westerners view Asian women as “trophy” wives and/or lovers
(although Yu’s Rosina is no stereotypical lotus blossom).The casting of these talented non-white women in
roles portrayed since the 18th century by mostly European performers
demonstrates what “affirmative action” really is in action: opening up the
doors so individuals possessing god-given gifts can use them to their fullest expression.
And in doing so, enriching the overall theatergoing experience, while giving
jobs to deserving artists and others. From each according to their abilities,
to each according to their needs.Yu’s rendition of the Countess’ arias “Porgi amor” (“Love, thou holy purest
impulse”) and “Dovo sono” (“They are
over”) are as lovely as anything a Westerner could warble, and we are all the
better for it when inclusion, rather than exclusion, is the watchword of the
day, on- and offstage.This is also true for the transgender role playing.
Rapier’s rendition
of the (purportedly) male Cherubino’s aria “Voi
che sapete” (“What is this feeling?”) about adolescent love is utterly
beguiling and charming. Sigmundsson’s mock malevolent interpretation of the aria, “La vendetta, oh, la vendetta” (“Revenge, oh, sweet revenge”) is likewise
excellent.As I
wrote circa 2010 when LA Opera last presented The Marriage of Figaro,Ian Judge again deftly directs the
players, but scenery designer Tim Goodchild’s humdrum sets still only come
alive in the gorgeous garden scene, with its full moon -- although I don’t quite
understand how chandeliers could be suspended outdoors. (Unfortunately, we are
beset by the same sets - apparently Goodchild didn’t read my review. Bad child!)
And once again this production also unnecessarily inserts modern references,
such as telephones and flashlights, into the 18th century milieu,
which only serve to distract from what is otherwise a period piece. These
intrusions do not enhance the work but are only 20th century
distractions that really don’t belong here. But these are mere quibbles. The
choreography by Sergio Trujillo and Chad Everett Allen, plus chorus directed by
Grant Gershon, however, are all grand.The
production clocked in at three and a half hours-plus. For that period of time
one is transported from Earth to Planet Mozart. Wolfgang’s vision of love
reigning supreme is a sublime splendor, with music to match. A splendid time
was had by all.The
Marriage of Figaro runs through April 12 at L.A. Opera at the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion, 135 N.
Grand Ave. For more info: 213-972-8001; www.laopera.com.

Saturday, March 21, 2015

Director Benjamin Dickinson’s slickly styled Creative Control is, at its heart, an old fashioned love story set
in the near future Brooklyn, New York; but it is also a cautionary tale about our
dependence on technology.

Ad exec David (Dickinson) has been given the chance to play
around with a new high-tech product, Augmenta. It’s a virtual reality platform
that his company is trying to figure out how best to sell to the masses. David
must perform! Added to the pressure David is experiencing at work, he is also
going through a rough patch with his live-in girlfriend, Juliette (Nora
Zehetner). David finds inspiration in the form of Sophie
(Alexia Rasmussen), the girlfriend of his best pal, Wim (Dan Gill). As he spends more and more
time with “Sophie,” thanks to the technology of the Augmenta glasses, David
withdraws from the rest of his life.

Creative Control
is quite impressive to watch. It is beautifully shot by Adam Newport-Berra in
black and white, with just a hint of color here and there. The technology
depicted in the film is believable and the special effects are never a
distraction. And there is an excellent vomit scene.

However, the four lead
characters come across as somewhat boring hipsters for whom it is hard to care.
David is bored in the bedroom, so he crushes on another woman. Juliette is
frustrated with David, so she practices yoga with another man (Paul Manza). Wim is a
self-absorbed philanderer, who only decides to commit to Sophie when he thinks
he might lose her. Sophie…well, Sophie is just kind of dull. She is very pretty
and stylish, but she doesn’t really do anything.

Winner of the Visual Excellence Award at SXSW, Creative
Control is a pleasure to watch and a decent story (co-written by Dickinson
and Micah Bloomberg). While mine may not be the popular opinion, I find the
characters not quite fleshed out enough. This is apt considering David’s
retreat to spend time with his virtual reality sex toy. When the people around
you don’t feel fully formed, perhaps all you can do is create your own special
friend.

Wednesday, March 18, 2015

Director Fredrik Gertten’s latest documentary, Bikes vs Cars, travels to various cities around
the world to examine the issues and some of the causes surrounding the titular
feud. In Sao Paulo, Brazil we meet Aline Cavalcante, a bike activist, who
wonders why the city’s public transportation is so expensive and terrible, and
if the city really has the worst traffic jams in the world. Another city vying
for that unfortunate award is Los Angeles, CA, where Dan Koeppel is trying to
make a difference for bike riders, while delving into the city’s history and
exposing the ugly truth about the ever expanding freeway system.

These two cities used to have fantastic infrastructure for
bicycling enthusiasts, but now they stink (literally and figuratively) thanks
to the oil, construction and auto industries. The car-centric cultures that these industries have created, have
stripped away bikes lanes, increasing the risks bicyclist face each time they
ride.

The facts are terrifying. From how often bicyclists are
killed in various cities, to the amount of people suffering from air pollution around
the world, to the expected increase in automobile sales in the next five years
(double what it is today). But people love their cars. There is, of course, the
socioeconomic status that car ownership bestows upon the driver. But why cannot
the same be afforded to lovers of the environmentally friendly bicycle? And beyond the bourgeois status of car ownership, what is the point of being able to buy a car if all you can do is sit in traffic?

However, there is some good news beyond the smog. As exemplified in Copenhagen,
Denmark and The Netherlands, biking in a big city can work! And everyone
breathes a little better because of it. A call to action, Bikes vs. Cars is not so much about two wheels vs. four wheels, per se, the real battle here is between the status quo versus the possibility of a better future.

Tuesday, March 17, 2015

The revolution will be stagedBy Ed RampellThis noisy A Noise Within production of Figaro is playwright Charles Morey’s
freewheeling adaptation of Pierre-Augustin Caron de Beaumarchais’ 1784 play The Marriage of Figaro (which inspired
Mozart’s 1786 opera of the same name). Like the original, Morey borrows freely
and whimsically from the Comedie-Francaise,
Italian commedia dell’arte and French
farce.Figaro’s storyline
lends itself to high tragedy or low comedy: The no account Count Almaviva’s
(Andrew Ross Wynn, who projects a Harvey Korman vibe) young, saucy servant
Suzanne (the red wig-wearing Angela Sauer, who plays this part with all the
comic subtlety of an I Love Lucy
episode) is about to wed the Count’s wisecracking manservant Figaro (Jeremy
Guskin). Beaumarchais and Mozart have the Count assert droit du seigneur -- the feudal privilege of a nobleman to deflower/consummate the
impending marriages of young women within their dominions on the wedding night.Some may find Michael Michetti’s direction and this
often frenetically paced two-acter to be witty, with dazzling word play,
expertly acted and roguishly charming. Others may consider it to be half-witty,
broad, loud and over the top.Angela Balogh Calin’s colorful costumes certainly
enhance the buffoonish ambiance of this production, which at times resembles a
clownfest. As Almaviva, Wynn is not garbed as much as upholstered and
embroidered into his rather ridiculous raiment. And as Countess Almaviva, Elyse
Mirto is quite fetching while kvetching and prancing about in her lingerie type
outfit. (Fun fact of the day: Marie-Antoinette actually portrayed this
character, also known as Rosine or Rosina, in a 1785 production staged at
Versailles.)As the title character, Guskin plays the work’s
central scheming scoundrel as a trickster with whom -- nod, nod, wink, wink --
the audience is in on the joke, if not in cahoots. But it is this knee-slapper
that is at the core of the play, because the joke is on the aristocrats.While there are a number of “war between the sexes”
witticisms (usually at males’ expenses) in Figaro
about the supposed natures of the genders, what’s most at play in this play
is the “uppity” servant’s critique of the ruling class. For both Beaumarchais and
Mozart's Figaros are among the Western stage’s very first working class heroes.During the American Revolution, our man
Beaumarchais was a gunrunner for the revolutionary cause. And
it’s not for nothing that the French revolutionary leader, George
Jacques Danton, opined: “The
Marriage of
Figaro caused
the French Revolution.” Of course, this inevitably led to Beaumarchais’ run-ins
with the court’s censors, who were royal pains in the derriere. So the best part of Figaro
is its class consciousness and use of humor to ridicule the servants’
“betters.” (Think of a satirical version of Downton
Abbey, with Daisy grabbing a pitchfork to jab her pompous overlords.)Figaro has some choice, politically astute,
funny bon mots, catapulted off of Guskin’s
tongue with snarky aplomb. For example, there is a good riff on
Lincoln’s Gettysburg Address, where
our wag Figaro -- his tongue dipped in acid -- waxes poetic and splenetic about
“Government of the cartels,” and so on. And there’s a good guillotine riposte
as Figaro, the former title character of The
Barber of Seville, shaves the Count who would violate his wife-to-be with
a sharpened razor. Take one guess what song he hums or whistles while Almaviva
experiences his close shave?Morey’s
adaptation of Beaumarchais’ Figaro premiered
Off-Broadway in 2012 and is here part of A Noise Within’s “REVOLUTIONary” season, which in turn is part of
the “Figaro
Unbound:
Culture, Power and Revolution at Play” program. This includes LA Opera’s presentation
this season of the Figaro trilogy: The Ghosts
of Versailles, Rossini’s The Barber
of Seville and Mozart’s The Marriage of Figaro (Le Nozze di Figaro),which opens March 21 at Dorothy
Chandler Pavilion. Figaro
Unbound L.A. partners include ArcLight Cinemas, the Hammer Museum,
Opera UCLA, A Noise Within, LA Theatre Works, FIDM Museum, the Huntington
Library, LACMA, the Norton Simon Museum, the Getty Museum, the Opera League of
Los Angeles, etc.Figarorunsthrough May 10 at A Noise Within, 3352 East
Foothill Blvd., Pasadena, CA 91107. For more info:
636-356-3100, ext. 1; Figaro.
For more info on the “Figaro Unbound”: Figaro Unbound.

Monday, March 16, 2015

In 2011 director Alex Sichel (All Over Me) was informed she had a terminal
disease. As a way of facing her fears and processing the information, she, along with A Woman Like Me co-director Elizabeth Giamatti, decided to make a film about a
woman who is given the same prognosis. She also decided to direct a documentary
about her life post-diagnosis, including the making of the movie. It’s not
exactly a movie-within-a-movie, or a movie about a movie, but rather a hybrid
thereof.

As Sichel described it when she got her diagnosis of
metastatic breast cancer, she felt like she was watching a movie about a woman
with cancer. And so she set about making that movie with (the fantastic)
Lili Taylor playing the lead role of Anna Seashell in hopes that Anna’s reactions
would be more optimistic that Sichel’s real life ones. The movie gives Sichel
the chance to control the outcome: direct the disease or redo “scenes” that
she thought she should have performed differently in real life. Sichel
practices her reactions to the grim news (even her own death scene) and gets a
chance to recreate chapters from her life via Anna. But both the fictionalized
character’s life and the life Sichel presents in the documentary are
manipulated by Sichel and at times A
Woman Like Me feels selfish. But it also feels tender. (I cannot imagine making a movie, let alone
while undergoing cancer treatments and reconciling one’s own end of life.

Sichel’s life in A
Woman Like Me is hectic with her family. Erich, her husband, and Anastasia,
her daughter, are both featured heavily, as are other family members. She undergoes holistic treatments and explores non-Western ways of
dealing with the disease, exploring a “Buddhist experience of cancer.” She coaches Taylor through scenes and
rehearsals. Faced with a death that she knows will come too soon, Sichel often
presents a surprisingly upbeat persona in A
Woman Like Me, her legacy.

Thursday, March 12, 2015

Sum it up to styleBy Ed RampellDaily existence is full of a cornucopia of soul-sapping
vexations marring our felicity. They run the gamut, dammit -- from eternal,
infernal traffic jams to pesky bill collectors to life threatening plagues to
wars to global warming, ad nauseam. But LA Opera’s production of Gioachino Rossini’s The Barber of Seville is one of those things that can make you feel
glad to be alive, rendering those ceaseless slings and arrows of our outrageous
misfortunes bearable and even making living a
worthwhile undertaking.Debuting in Rome in 1816, The Barber of Sevillehas become one of the most performed (it last graced the
Dorothy Chandler Pavilion’s stage in 2009), best loved opera’s ever. There are
several reasons why, but Rossini’s music certainly has pride of place. The
score is bubbly, buoyant, vibrant, frothy.In addition, James
Conlon is so animated. His baton seems like more of a magic
wand, conjuring Rossini’s intoxicating, enchanting score out of the strings,
woodwinds, fortepiano, brass and percussion instruments like a
symphonic sorcerer.Another reason for The Barber of Seville's perennial popularity is its plot - this comedy is, after
all, an ebullient romance. As the maid Berta (mezzo-soprano Lucy Schaufer) sings:
“What on earth is all
this love which makes everyone go mad?” (Or, as Freddie
Mercury put it 163 years later: that “Crazy
little thing called love”.) Of course,
there is Count Almaviva’s (tenor Rene Barbera) light-hearted, lusty pursuit of
Rosina (mezzo-soprano Elizabeth DeShong), which provides the comical backbone
for this opera that adapts the first of the trilogy of 18th century
plays by French playwright Pierre Augustin Beaumarchais about the
title character.However, in this libretto by Cesare Sterbini,
there is no greater love than the one the eponymous haircutter, Figaro
(Moscow-born baritone Rodion Pogossov), has for himself. This
supremely self-confident beautician apparently has a higher quotient of self-esteem
than The Donald does. In his rapidly sung “Largo
al factotum” aria, basking in the beauty of (who else?) himself, the highly
self-regarding, self-ballyhooing barber sings the name of his true love -
“Figaro! Figaro! Figaro!” - don’tchaknow? Pogossov is a hoot (and a holler) in
the title role: Not even Kryptonite could stop this Muscovite.Another outstanding thing about this LA Opera and
Emilio Sagi production is that it slyly uses a cinematic technique rarely seen
onscreen in movies such as 1939’s The
Wizard of Oz. Spanish scenic designer Llorenc
Corbella, Argentine costume designer Renata Schussheim, Spanish lighting
designer Eduardo Bravo and American director Trevore Ross have quite cleverly
collaborated to visualize the emergence of love onstage.There are other shrewd stage effects -- as in LA Op’s
2009 production there is a likewise sharp-witted visualization of the “slander”
concocted by Rosina’s thwarted, would-be lover, Doctor Bartolo (Italian
baritone Alessandro Corbelli, who alternates in the role on March 22 with bass-baritone Philip Cokorinos, who performed the role at
the Dorothy Chandler in 2009) and Don Basilio, portrayed with great comic panache
by the crowd pleasing Icelandic bass, Kristinn Sigmundsson. His hulking
presence and humorous depiction added to the show’s general merriment, even as
Basilio and his partner in crime, Bartolo, conspired to make Almaviva sing a la Simon and Garfunkel: “I get
slandered, libeled, I hear words I never heard in the bible” as he tries to
keep Rosina satisfied.Kudos to the entire cast and crew, including chorus director
Grant Gershon and Spanish choreographer Nuria Castejon.The Barber
of Seville runs throughMarch 22 at L.A. Opera at the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion, 135 N. Grand Ave., Los Angeles. For more info:
213-972-8001; Barber.

Saturday, March 7, 2015

Marty
Jackitansky (Joshua Burge) — he’s a “White Russian,” not Polish — is an angry
young man. He mostly seems bitter about having to toil away his weekdays as a
temp at a bank, though one might surmise that Marty would rather not have to
work at all. Marty seems just barely cognizant enough about the economic system
to find ways to scrounge together enough money each month to perpetuate his own
existence. As a temp, Marty earns a pathetic hourly wage with no benefits,
so he partakes in petty scams to make some extra dough — more like chump
change.

Sticking it to the man, Marty orders office supplies online at work
then returns them to the store for cash; he also closes his bank account in
order to open a new one and collect the $50 incentive that comes along with it.

One day, a fateful stack of returned checks on his desk proves to be far too tempting
for Marty, especially when he learns that checks can be signed over to another
party. Not surprisingly, Marty does not think the check fraud plan completely
through; he ends up on the lam in his friend’s (writer-director Joel Potrykus) basement.
Armed with a taste for rebellion and a self-made Freddy Krueger glove, Marty
finally escapes the bland conformity of the banking industry; but the perpetual
weight of economic pressure finally gets too much for Marty, so he begins to
lash out like a financially disgruntled nightmare.

Like Ape,
Potrykus’ previous feature, Buzzard rails against
conformity and capitalism. The economy is the ever-present villain of both
films — no matter how much Marty or Ape‘s Trevor try to rebel against
the system, they cannot defeat capitalism. Frustrated with the constant
struggle, they turn to violence and presumably self-destruction.

The gritty
cinematic worlds created by Potrykus are difficult for slackers to survive within,
presumably because of their inherent laziness, ambivalence and naive
expectations of the modern world. Neither of them are all that likable — they
are quintessential fuck-ups — but it is difficult not to feel a
tad bit sorry for Marty and Trevor as they burn, scavenge and
claw for a right to exist; you might even go as far as saying that they
are presented as martyrs for the non-conformists of the world.

Friday, March 6, 2015

When
Mark DeFriest was on the verge of adulthood, his father unexpectedly died. In response, DeFriest ran off with
his father's tools (which his dad had willed him) while the will was still in
probate and his stepmother called the cops and pressed charges against
DeFriest. He was sentenced to four years in prison for theft. A lifetime later,
DeFriest still sits in prison.

While
he initially was sent to jail for taking his father's tools, DeFriest's ability to
escape has kept him there for a long time. Stating that, "Nobody here has
a sense of humor," DeFriest breaks out (the first of many times) of the first prison in which he is
serving time. However, his survival skills combined with raw ingenuity and hotwiring
ability allow him to elude the cops for only so long.

Back in prison, this time he is
given a psychological evaluation and deemed incompetent. DeFriest is sent to Florida State
Hospital's mental ward.

After
an initial unsuccessful escape attempt from the hospital involving spiking the
staff's coffee with hallucinogens (told with comedic effect), DeFriest manages to break free. Again, he is
caught and sent to Bay County Jail. Undettered, each time DeFriest is imprisoned he reacts with
an almost animalistic urge to escape.

These repeated escapes anger authorities. In response, DeFriest is locked in
solitary confinement and tortured. In order to get out of "that hellhole" DeFriest pleads
guilty to a third felony that includes a life sentence.

Mark is sent to the notorious
Florida State Prison.

Over the years, DeFriest has racked up a long list of
disciplinary write-ups and escaped seven times. But his wiliness and
inventiveness -- this extremely resourceful man is clearly endowed with a level of intelligence -- has
worked to his detriment. Additionally, it is unclear if DeFriest suffers from mental
illness. DeFriest admits that he "made [the people who work in the system]
look like idiots."

Gabriel London's documentary delves into Defriest's story, highlighting many of
the injustices he has faced in prison and the broken system that has kept
him there for so long. Using a wide range of interviews and gothic animation (plus an unfortunate score and soundtrack) The Life and Mind of Mark Defriest paints quite a horroric life, which could and should have turned out so much better (at least to those who know DeFriest best).

DeFriest is portrayed as a bit of a loner, but one who is a mechanical prodigy. From rewiring phones, to dismantling and reassembling clocks, to being taught the world of warfare and survival skills by his dad (an ex-Marine rabidly scared of "the reds") at a young age, he was always able to create something out of seemingly nothing. This skill both helps and hurts DeFriest, who can (and does) escape like a modern-day criminal Houdini.

The primry point here is that although he certainly played a part in being bad, DeFriest is excessively punished -- unlike the "goon squad" at Floriday State Prison. For over 40 years DeFriest has endured numerous horrors of abuse, rape and torture. Fortunately, somebody came along and cared enough to tell his story.

Having made changes to the film's ending, based on events that happened after filming on the movie wrapped, The Life and Mind of Mark DeFriest clearly illustrates what influence this documentary has had on DeFriest's life and those who perceive DeFriest has some rabid criminal unworthy of sympathy.

Here's hoping that more documentarians can shine a light on the US's troubled prison system and how society and the "justice"system deals with mental health issues.

The hoaxest with moxiestBy John EstherLast year writer-director Woody Allen released the feature film, Magic in the Moonlight. The film tells the story of Stanley (Colin Firth), a master illusionist who sets out to debunk the psychic powers of Sophie (Emma Stone), only to become duped himself in the process -- yet fall in love with the considerably younger woman (typical), and presumably live happily ever after. While the film has its moments, Magic in the Moonlight is ultimately predictable, reactionary and incredulous. And, like every single Allen film since his 1992 Husbands and Wives (one of his five masterpieces -- along with Annie Hall, Manhattan, Zelig, and Crimes and Misdemeanors), does not merit a second viewing. (Some of the recent films by Allen -- once one of America's greatest "auteurs" -- did not even merit a first viewing.)Considerably more liberating, engaging, entertaining and less predictable (unless you already know the film's subject well), yet similar in content, comes Tyler Measom and Justin Weinstein's documentary, An Honest Liar. A story begging to be purchased by a Hollywood studio and "fictionalized" for some future awards season, An Honest Liar chronicles the life of James Randi. AKA "The Amazing Randi," Randi is one of the greatest magicians of all time who later went on to debunk many various forms of crackpot science and spiritual chicanery -- even when some skeptics (a la Magic in the Moonlight's Stanley, eventually) had a change of mind/heart and wanted to believe in paranormal phenomena. Born August 7, 1928, as Randall James Hamilton Zwinge, Randi knew from a very young age he was different and, like most very smart LGBTQ people growing up during the 1930s and 1940s, felt very uncomfortable with his difference(s). His father sensed his son's difference, too."I only had two conversations with my father," Randi recalls in the documentary while discussing his awareness as a child and the effects it had on his childhood life. Basically exiled to do his own thing, Randi grew up alienated and self-educated. Looking for a purpose, one day Randi witnessed a magic show by Harry Blackstone, Sr. He was monumentally impressed. Suddenly, he was filled with purpose. Randi read everything on the subject he could find. At the age of 17 he dropped out of high school and joined the circus as a conjurer. Randi rose quickly to the echelons of magic, quickly drawing comparisons to his hero, Harry Houdini (who died two years before Randi was born). For Randi, Houdini had set the records to be broken. Randi was not only a great magician, he also had a wonderful, charming personality. Together they earned him a guest spot on major television shows. In particular, Randi appeared numerous times on The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson. As Randi rose to fame, he always made it clear, in practice and in theory, that magic/illusions/trickery should only be used to entertain folks. It should not be used to depart fools from his or her money by deceptive means. After a near-death experience Randi retired at the age of 60. Henceforth, he would use his own power of perceptions and deceptions to expose the charlatans. His retirement coincided with the rise of such showmen as New Age psychic Uri Geller and "faith healer" Peter Popoff and company. These two men pretended to possess supernatural powers. They were effective. Thousands of people were only too willing to be duped out of his or her money. Fortunately, Randi had an ally in Carson, whose show gave national exposure to a few of Randi's exposes on these deceivers. How Randi, with the help of others, exposes psychics, televangelists, and the media makes for riveting investigative drama. These guys (basically, it is only guys in this documentary) go deep undercover to expose some of the greater mental deceptions ever created. As a result, a few of them sometimes got lost in the process themselves. As An Honest Liar reiterates numerously, "There are layers and layers of deception." If this were not enough to make for a riveting documentary, toward the end of the film An Honest Liar adds another dimension to Randi's life on a personal level. Thanks to his own need for deception, Randi may lose the love of his life. Bold, beautiful and exceptionally blistering in its critique of human cowardice in the form of duplicity, An Honest Liar illustrates a rare phenomenon in documentary: what it means to think, to believe and to challenge what our very own eyes see, and more to the point, do not see. The illusion is out there...and inside here. Hear.

Softcore theaterBy
Ed RampellDo
you have a guilty pleasure? Your galavanting reviewer confesses to
one that whiles away the hours during long haul flights: Reading books
that stick their big noses into the private lives of geniuses. While soaring through
the stratosphere over the Pacific Islands or aboard trans-Atlantic flights tell-all
biographies of Pablo Picasso, John Lennon and Marlon Brando have been eagerly
consumed. These prying eyes can’t get enough of those salacious details! It may
be poor manners but there’s nothing like reading the personal letters, etc.,
of others to pass the time away (as our three amigos, N, S, & A well
know!).So it was with great interest that your
curious critic attended the world premiere of the cleverly titled Fugue. In it, playwright Tommy Smith
delves into the sex lives of not one, not two, but three -- count ’em three!!! --
musical geniuses! It’s a veritable tabloid-apalooza of invasions of privacy
which Smith lays bare (but not bare enough, as you’ll soon see),
exposing the purported behind-closed-doors peccadilloes of a trio of composers
and their, uh, consorts and cohorts.The musicians are: The brilliant Piotr
Tchaikovsky (Christopher Shaw), who gave the world such supreme pleasure, with
wonderful works such as “Swan Lake”, “The Nutcracker Suite”, etc., in the 19th
century. But bestowing such splendor upon his fellow humans wasn’t quite enough
for patriarchal Czarist society, which stipulated that the gay composer also
live up to its strict heterosexual code of behavior. To say the least, complications
ensue when Tchaikovsky weds Antonina (Alana Dietze), and his long suffering
bride/beard decides to, shall we say, shave. Ah, sMother Russia, land of pussy
riots! (Astute cinephiles may recall a sort of comical reenactment of
Tchaikovsky’s mock marriage in Ken Russell’s 1969 film, Women in Love, based on D. H. Lawrence’s novel -- and, BTW, one of
the best cinematic adaptations of literature in screen history.)Our next troubled talent is Arnold
Schoenberg (Troy Blendell), the 20th century Austrian innovator of
atonal music and the twelve-tone technique (no, that doesn’t refer to a series
of Kama Sutra positions, but to a type of music). Arnie’s wife,
Mathilde (Amanda Lovejoy Street), takes up with the younger painter
Richard Gerstl (Jesse Fair), who cuckolds his friend and sometime benefactor,
the far more successful Schoenberg. (Hey, what are friends for?) Further
complications ensue, as the threesomecareens
down a sexual skid row.Our final tortured composer is somebody
this writer had never heard of, the genuinely creepy Carlo Gesualdo (Karl
Herlinger), a 16th century Italian musician who, according to press
notes, was of noble rank and wrote intense chromatic music. Gesualdo gives new
meaning to the term “Renaissance Man,” as he was also something of a genius when
it came to hanky-spanky sex. The musical sadomasochist’s practices would make Anastasia
Steele and Christian Grey blush 50 shades of red. Jeanne Syquia plays his
partner-in-slime Donna Maria, and Justin Huen has a double role, as Fabrizio
and the priest Gesualdo “confesses” to in this confessional play.Smith’s script is interesting and Chris
Fields’ direction skillful, with a cinematic touch. Fugue sort of uses a split screen technique and we sometimes have
three sets of actors performing onstage at the same time, albeit in different
times and places. This method of presentation is not only filmic, but also,
musically, fugue-like. Michael Mullen’s period costumes are a good fit. The
thesps all acquit themselves well -- but, alas, your erstwhile scribbler has one
quibble.One imagines that the dramatist, director,
company, et al, fancy themselves as being “daring” for presenting sex acts
performed on the boards - albeit underneath blankets. Well, here’s a newsflash,
and as Chuck Berry would say, “Tell Tchaikovsky the news”: Nudity has been
legal onstage and onscreen since the 1960s in the United States. This reviewer
refers you to the Living Theatre, Hair,
etc., as well as to Alan Bates and Oliver Reed’s wrestling romp au natural onscreen in the
aforementioned Women in Love. Unlike
Julian Beck and company, performers today don’t have to worry about being busted
for indecent exposure and the like.Depicting
undercover sex acts onstage and onscreen veiled by beach blanket bingos is not
only a sexual cop out, but an attempt to have your cake and eat it too: The
production wants to titillate the audience with bawdiness without delivering
the goods, while collaborating with America’s still puritanical norms and
constraints. For example, just consider the fact that Showtime
airs Masters of Sex, an entire
fact-based series about those pioneering sex researchers Masters and Johnson, wherein
not since 2013 has a single strand of pubic hair made its debut on this
“shocking” series - although it is perfectly legal nowadays to do so on cable
television. What sheer cowardice!Artists went to jail, to court, etc., to
win the right for free expression and to now have the legal right but for
today’s talents to not make use of this hard fought for First Amendment
protection is pretty spineless. If stage and screen productions are unwilling
to depict people having sex the way they usually do in real life -- you know, partially
or completely unclothed -- then they should keep sex acts relegated to offstage/
offscreen inferred action. Quit trying to have it both ways -- or go fugue
yourselves.Other than that, Fugue is a thought-provoking, well-acted two act play with an
intermission. However, it will likely not be the cup of tea for ticket buyers
who are offended, upset, etc., by violence onstage and/or simulated (even if
hidden) sex acts. In any case, the next time this ranter and raver jet sets off to
parts unknown he may read a copy of Fugue’s
script to make the hours slip more swiftly by while munching a bag of airline
peanuts.The Echo Theater
Company’s production ofFugue
runs through March 22 at Atwater Village Theatre, 3269 Casitas Ave., Atwater Village, CA 90039.
For more information: 310-307-3753; Fugue It!.